Earlier this year I was doing this fairly regularly. Then I began to blog other things. But recent discussions with JJ have brought this back to mind so I thought I might do it again.
Hey, this is simple. I am not going to make it complicated like JJ does. He can try to baffle you with ####. I just want to show you something that might make you go huh, interesting.
Let's update this a bit though. In order to be consistent with previously expressed views, let's say that NASCAR goes with 11 four-car Nextel Cup teams. Then let's ban the top 44 drivers from the Busch Series so young guns or old dogs can have those seats. So what do we have?
For now let's look at the current Busch standings and simply extricate the top 44 Cup drivers from the field. Then we can see what is left and consider it to be what a potential Busch field might look like if there were no Cup drivers allowed in it. I am going to call it "The Busch Class Standings."
Jason Leffler
Bobby Hamilton Jr.
Stephen Leicht
Mike Wallace
Marcos Ambrose
Scott Wimmer
Steve Wallace
Regan Smith
Kyle Krisiloff
Shane Huffman
Brent Sherman
Mike Bliss
Ward Burton
Todd Kluever
Aric Almirola
Eric McClure
Jon Wood
Brad Keselowski
Jason Keller
Brad Coleman
Robert Richardson II
Kelly Bires
Kevin Hamlin
Timothy Peters
Danny O'Quinn Jr.
Stanton Barrett
Cale Gale
Justin Diercks
Richard Johns
Morgan Shephard
Chase Miller
Brett Rowe
D. J. Kennington
Sam Hornish Jr.
Ron Hornaday
Bobby East
Curtis Davis
Derrike Cope
Kevin Conway
Timothy McCreadie
David Green
Todd Bodine
Mark Green
Guys, if you are real race fans, you have to admit, that would be a really cool field.
Jason Leffler was your Busch Class winner tonight in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway. Leffler finished 6th overall in a good showing for Toyota. And boy did they need it. Regan Smith was second in the Ginn Resorts Chevrolet, 12th overall. And Jason Keller made a most excellent return to the Busch Series finishing third in class and 14th overall.
Oh yeah, Denny Hamlin won the race followed by Mark Martin and Carl Edwards. But they are Buschwackers and that's another story. You can read about Denny Elsewhere. Love him in Cup. But here he is just another wacker.
Marcos Ambrose retains his eighth position in the overall Busch Series Standings overall and his second place standing in the Busch Class. He also maintains his tight tussle with ex-Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year competition. Montoya finished one place ahead of Ambrose last Friday night.
Ambrose ran comfortably inside the top 15 for the first half of the race. The two-time Australian V8 Supercar Champion dropped down the order slightly in the flurry of late-race pit stops and once among the battling on the verge of the top 20 he was unable to forge a break and get back up the order. Ambrose encountered a close shave on the final lap of the race as he avoided a series of clashes that culminated in his Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team-mate Jon Wood crashing when he was left no where to go when cars spun on the track.
“We were running well and felt good in the early part of the race,” said Ambrose. “It shows some of the progress we have been making that we can qualify in the top ten and run well on a one-mile oval like Phoenix. This is a tough race track and it was a tough field out here today. It certainly felt good running around with all the Cup guys in the first part of the race. "We ran well, showed some speed and we kept our spot in the standings."
Kevin LePage drove the No. 52 Ford for Jimmy Means Racing and moved into the top 40 in Busch Class points. Hopefully we will see LePage running more in this series now that he is not attempting to make Cup races with Front Row Motorsports.
Alabamian and ARCA regular Mike Harmon ran Busch in Phoenix and moved up into the top 40 as well. He drove the No. 44 All Sports Armour TUSCON Chevrolet.
Morgan Shephard made his 3rd Busch race of the year and moved up to 43rd in Busch Class points. I am happy to see old Morgan do this. He doesn't belong attempting Cup, but he can still wheel a car.
Timothy Peters had an excellent run in the No. 21 for Kevin Harvick Racing. The former bring your sponsor and pay to drive member of the Bobby Hamilton Racing team is getting the chance of a lifetime to drive excellent equipment thanks to Harvick's association with Richard Childress Racing. Peters is now 17th in Busch Class points.
Shane Huffman settled for bad luck Friday night when he crashed out early. "As the field came through turn four to complete the first lap of the race, the No. 88 car cut through the grass and then went back up the track collecting the No. 33 and 18 cars. The Navy Chevrolet sustained significant damage and Huffman drove the mangled car directly to the garage area. Crew Chief Wes Ward assessed that the damage was too significant to repair and the team loaded up.
“I don’t know what happened there,” Huffman said. “It just cut hard to the left when I got on the brakes in four. I hate it for this Navy team. We had such a good run here in the fall and I was looking forward to a repeat of that performance here tonight.” Huffman fell to 9th in the Busch Class standings.
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